Four-day Maximum Ames Music Festival starts Thursday

By Tribune Staff

Friday

Sep 21, 2018 at 12:01 AM

The eighth-annual Maximum Ames Music Festival comes to downtown Ames Sept. 27-30 for a four-day celebration of music and culture. This year’s festival will feature more than 60 acts performing at more than 10 Ames venues. Performances will cover an expansive range of musical territory, from guitar-driven rock to intimate songwriter showcases to jazz to soul and hip hop.

Highlights from this year’s lineup include Leslie Hall, “Iowa gem and Ames native,” doing a recording for Yarn House Live, a live internet show that stars Hall and her chicken, Ribbons. The show airs once a month on the yarnhouse.live website.

Hall will perform Sunday at the Elk’s Lodge with a program that is appropriate for all ages. Doors open at 1 p.m., and the show starts at 2 p.m. Admission is $5; kids 16 and under are admitted for free.

Another headliner is Los Angeles-based Digisaurus, an electronic pop/rock project from artist and producer, James Allison. Originally from London, England, Allison opened up a recording studio in Columbus, Ohio, and engineering sessions with groups like Phantogram and Maps Atlases, as well as producing records for bands in the area. Allison also performed with numerous groups on guitar, synths and vocals and his extensive performance background includes tour stints with Weezer, Crystal Castles and J. Roddy Walston & The Business. Now based in Los Angeles, Allison dedicates himself wholly to the evolution of music and art, through technology and collaboration under the moniker, Digisaurus.

Digisaurus performs Saturday at Time Out, which is a 21-and-older venue. The night’s lineup also features Great Caesar’s Goat and Honeygold. There is no charge for admission, and the show starts at 8 p.m.

Another big headliner for MAMF is the Japanese theatrical rock n’ roll act, The Depaysement. On a mystical morning in December of 2008, Maresuke Nishimori and Satoru Koyanagi crossed paths at a coffeeshop in Tokyo, Japan, a chance encounter that has proven to be the stuff of legend and proof that musical magic truly exists. What followed was the formation of the four-piece Japanese rock n’ roll outfit known as the Depaysement.

“Words fall painfully short when describing the electric relationship between audience and artist when DPM takes the stage. A performance by the Depaysement is nothing short of a high intensity, dance worthy, explosively theatrical rock n’ roll happening.

Fueled by a pure love for music and endless creative instinct, the Depaysement is founded on the familial chemistry of brothers/members Hikaru, Satoru, and Wataru Koyanagi and their brother from another mother, Mare Nishimori. Genre based descriptions of DPM’s peculiar combination of punk rock, psychedelia, funk and dance ballad only tell part of the story.”

The Depaysement performs Sunday at Deano’s, for concertgoers who are 21 years old and over. The 7 p.m. show has a $5 admission cost, and the show also features The Wheelers, Electric Jury and Strong Like Bear.

The music festival coincides with Ames Pridefest, which will take place in downtown Ames on Sept. 29 featuring drag performances, live music and more. The overlap furthers the Maximum Ames mission of providing a safe, inclusive environment that fosters creativity and understanding through music and art.

All-weekend passes for the 2018 Maximum Ames Music Festival cost $15 and are available through www.midwestix.com. Tickets for individual performances will be available through the venues hosting the events.